A Very Bulldog Welcome
| The day Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine arrived Together, London was in lovely light. At least it should have been. The sun, deprived Of autumn glory, cringed from urban blight. The coal-fire chimneys’ vileness forced Verlaine To write, “Imagine seeing sunbeams through Gray crêpe .” French yokels, both were staggered when They saw the crowds. In their poetic view It seemed to “have been snowing negroes.” These Two explorers learned how shallow was their Importance by shop windows’ obsequies To Livingstone (with lice-less hero hair). These ultraviolet poets tucked their rags Around themselves and moved like stumbling stags. |